The ‘Winners’ of the Wired News Saddest-Cubicle Contest

The winner -- if you can call it winning -- of the Wired News saddest-cubicles contest is David Gunnells, an IT guy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His desk is penned in by heavily used filing cabinets in a windowless conference room, near a poorly ventilated bathroom and a microwave. The overhead light doesn't work -- his mother-in-law was so saddened by his cube that she gave him a lamp -- and the other side of the wall is a parking garage. Gunnells recalls a day when one co-worker reheated catfish in the microwave, while another used the bathroom and covered the smell with a stinky air freshener. Lovely.

Without further ado, check out the runners-up for most depressing work space.

Photo: David Gunnells

When the first floor of his office flooded, management decided that rather than telecommute, everyone would pack into the second floor. Without enough desks to go around, this poor guy pulled out the drawers of a filing cabinet and stuck his monitor on top.

Photo: Mark Celsor

The thumbs-up guy says it best: "My desk has a column in the middle of it. Then it was cut in half. Now the wiring doesn't work." Shuffle the syllables around, and you could have a sad haiku.

Photo: Will

This cubicle features a single fluorescent light, paperclips as cubicle hooks and overturned boxes as shelf space, while lacking both windows and a working land line. What's worse, these guys don't even get their own cubes.

Photo: Pete

Winters are cold in Minnesota, which this cube's denizen is reminded of every time the door behind her opens. And those cones? Nobody ever uses them.

Photo: Courtney

This gives new meaning to the phrase "corner office." An IT guy ran a help desk from this cube for a year. Behind him, officemates would stop to chitchat. He must have been quite the source of office gossip. He reports it has since been given a more appropriate use. It serves as a shelf for the coffee pot.

Photo: Anonymous

This workstation defines small. Found on the USS Pampanito, a World War II submarine moored in San Francisco, it took us a minute to even realize it was a cubicle.

Photo: Deepak

This guy strolled back from a meeting to find his furniture gone. He sat there for an hour before someone told him he'd been moved to a new space.

Photo: Tim

A multibillion-dollar marine-terminals company decided to put its IT contractor inside a 40-foot steel cargo container. He calls it "the hamster cage." To get electricity, he ran a 100-foot extension cord to a power substation. In the winter, a small electric heater provided white noise, but little warmth. When it rained, he had to close himself in. And you think you have trouble getting a wireless signal....

Photo: Bob

Not only are these cubes small and cramped, but none has any natural light. When we have telemarketing nightmares, this is what we see.

Photo: Jason

We'd assume this cubicle dweller is just a bad photographer, but he assures us the lighting in his office really is this depressing. As is the utter lack of décor. Dude, get a plant.

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